By Jill Nagy
At Ferdle Turtle Brewing Company, owner/brewer Alexander Fredell brews his beer one barrel at a time.
He refers to his operation as a nano-brewery, smaller even than micro. Still, he keeps four beers on tap: dark lager, lager, India pale ale, and a “rotational” selection.
A tasting room takes up about half the space.
In late September, Octoberfest, a malty, slightly sweet brew, was “flying out the door” and a pumpkin ale was almost ready to replace it.
“It’s a nice problem to run out of beer,” Fredell said.
The brewery is located at 161 Broad Street (Route 29) in Schuylerville. It is tucked in under Sweet Lou’s Bistro and “we try to play off each other,” Frerdell said.
Ferdle Turtle doesn’t serve food, except for some chips and salsa, but people can bring their beer upstairs to Sweet Lou’s or bring their food down to the brewery. Fredell is starting to serve a 12-inch pizza.
Fredell started as a home brewer. During the Covid pandemic, he said, “I switched my career path,” and been working at a brewery, a somewhat larger operation than his present one: about 50 barrels at a time.
“Now, I am down to one barrel at a time,” he noted.
Family members invested in the new business, and his wife and a cousin’s husband are involved in the business.
It takes six to eight hours to brew a barrel of beer. Then it is allowed to cool down. Yeast is added and the mix ferments for about a week. After that, he explained, the beer goes into kegs and “we blast it with CO2.”
Eventually, Fredell said, he would like to expand into a bigger production facility, but he is concerned that the product may lose its personality if his operation gets too big.
“I like having my hands on,” he said.
He is licensed as a farm brewery, which allows up to five locations but requires using New York sourced grains and hops. New York state, once a center for hops production, is getting back into growing hops, he noted. The yeast does not have to be local.
In the future, he said, he would like to try using local fruit in some sour beers. He has blueberries in the freezer to start with. For now, though, “I just want to be comfortable.” He is pleased that “people really love our product.”
Fredell grew up in Saratoga. “Ferdle” was a high school nickname. He added “turtle” because “I am kind of a slow person” he explained.
Ferdle Turtle Brewing Co. is open from 3:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m. Thursday; 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Friday; and from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday.
For more information go to ferdleturtle.com.